Dreaming the future of libraries requires a mind-set that's a whole lot bigger than just libraries. As my colleague Brad Fish is want to say, we have to think outside the library box. If we are limited by only what libraries alone can imagine, then we will be missing tremendous opportunities to intersect with the larger world and to find a place for libraries in that world that is both dynamic and incredibly appealing. Let's consider some of the resources Brad has suggested:
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
Dreaming the Future
Back in December Thomas Frey and Michael Stephens challenged us to have big dreams about the future and make them our reality. So what are your biggest dreams about public library service "in the future"? I find that there is an uncanny connection between the future and the present, that the present is actually energized by our vision of the future, and the future is in turn shaped by that visioning. It's all a continuum - and the more we postpone visioning now, the more we limit our potential future. It seems we spend a lot of time on the here and now, and very little on the there and then. When we do try to see the world that is possible "out there", we quickly qualify everything with, "well, that isn't really feasible," or "that all sounds good, but..." What if we created a space where the very laws of that space dictated abandoning discussion of limitations and practical realities? Can we actually "live" in that kind of space even in a virtual sense? What would happen if we tried?
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